Mangalore: RTI a priceless asset, weapon to know truth - former secretary to govt
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NM)
Mangalore, Mar 15: Robinson D’Souza, former secretary to the government of Karnataka, department of law, delivered a talk on 'Right to Information (RTI) and harassment at workplace', at a programme organized by Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) here on Saturday, March 15.
Giving example of a research conducted by Yale University, London on RTI, the former secretary said, "The RTI is an alternative to paying bribe to get your work done. The nine-year-old RTI is the best weapon and the most priceless asset after the Indian Constitution. The researchers chose a slum in New Delhi and formed three groups to apply for a BPL card. Among the three, one group bribed. The second group, apart from submitting the application, filed RTI to know the status of their BPL card. The third group only submitted the application for BPL. Result: The first two groups got their BPL card done early, while the third group was issued the card late."
Briefing more on RTI, Robinson said, “The authority concerned is bound to give information to the applicant within 30 days. If the reply is irrelevant or fake, there are two options left before the applicant – either to appeal to the immediate superior officer or the information commission."
He further said that RTI has been a revolutionary medium. It has been ‘a weapon’ to know the truth. He gave the examples of Dr Mithra Hegde case in Mangalore, Priyanka Gandhi's visit to Vellore jail and a secret letter by Dayanidhi Maran to PM which helped in the investigation of the 2G scam. He also added that sometimes the RTI is ‘misused’. "There was an applicant who asked for the contact information of all the politicians from the panchayat to central. His purpose was to compile a directory of politicians," he said.
Harassment at work place
Robinson also briefed on 'Prevention of harassment at work place', a new law which came into force from December 2013. According to the law, he said, “An employer with more than ten employees shall form an Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) at the workplace. If there are fewer employees, the workplace shall come under the Local Compliant Committee (LCC), which is headed by the deputy commissioner (DC).
"However, if the committee is not formed at the workplace, the employer will be liable to pay a penalty of maximum of Rs 50,000 and sometimes it can also lead to the cancellation of registration of business. In addition to it, the workplace should have internal policies, guidelines issued to the employees and the committee should meet every month, review cases and reports," he said.
"The law covers not only work places where women are employees, the employer is also bound to follow the guidelines of the new law if there is at least one woman as an employee or women who enter the premises as visitors or clients. Besides, a person, who employees a maid servant also comes under this law," he added.
President of KCCI Mohammed Ameen welcomed the gathering. Office-bearers Ram Mohan Rai Maroor, Jeevan Saldanha, M Ganesh Bhat were among others present.